here now is blake zeff, former obama campaign aide and washington editor. robert, have you heard anything in the last couple of hours that suggests to you that somehow by monday mitch mcconnell and harry reid will sing kumbaya, pass something in the senate that also passes the house? >> i'm not so sure they'll be sing kumbaya, but the real story today is that there's movement on capitol hill. reid and mcconnell come out of that white house meeting and they're ready to haggle over some differences. what i expect to come to the floor is what president obama's talking about a 250 threshold for rates, maybe an amt attached to it and maybe have unemployment attached to it, but that's it. that's what the president wants at the end of the day. the question for mccon cell this, can he raise that threshold now at the 11th hour from president obama's $250,000 perhaps to $300,000 or $400,000. >> and just concede on spending cuts. >> at this point the republicans are like a prizefighter on the ropes and they're not in a great negotiating position and the caucus walked